if it still matters i have been shooting nosler ballistic silver tips 150gr. they are a good round and work will out to at least 500 yards for putting down an elk.

The most important thing about elk is shot placement though and what i use and agree with the Best of the West is a high shoulder shot. this is meant to be a spine shot or a miss over the top. this works good because when the animal is hit it doesn't move. i had been using this before i saw that the best of the west uses it but just you-tube best of the west shot placement. he has a great explanation and description to why the shot placement works.

Check it out
just remember placement is the most important part. an elk is a tough beast but that doesn't mean that a well placed shot from even a small round won't so the job.

I have a friend in north utah that told me not to bring anything under a 30 caliber 168 grandslam or interbond. he said a man used a 7mm mag and had to hit it 4 times to knock one down and most of the shots they get are from 85 to 200 yards and most of the time are running targets. he didn't mention the accubonds but I'm sure they would be the same. and word of caution don't shoot one very far from the road. Elk needs to be in the cooler ASAP.

I have a friend in north utah that told me not to bring anything under a 30 caliber 168 grandslam or interbond. he said a man used a 7mm mag and had to hit it 4 times to knock one down and most of the shots they get are from 85 to 200 yards and most of the time are running targets. he didn't mention the accubonds but I'm sure they would be the same. and word of caution don't shoot one very far from the road. Elk needs to be in the cooler ASAP.

And there hunters out there with 338s just swissing elk and still won't get knocked down. That is because of bullet selection and shot placement.

And there hunters out there with 338s just swissing elk and still won't get knocked down. That is because of bullet selection and shot placement.

I agree with that. There was some guy when I was picking up my 243 from the smith (had a trigger job done - set at a nice 3lbs) who told me my 243 was too small for deer... I live in CA, we have small blacktail... He was telling me of how he has a 300win mag and it took him 3-4 shots @300 yards to kill one buck.... are you kidding me... learn how to aim...

And I know a guy that shot a CA blacktail with a 300 win mag 168 ballitic tips. It ruined from the neck down halfway to the of the back strap was bloodshot and it left about a six inch hole on the exit side where the shoulder bone was completely gone. Thats overkill. This is where a bonded bullet would be preferred! Not that big of a wound channel.

The 7mm 168VLD causes wound channels to be as large at 18". And the 30 cal 168 ballistic tip wound channel was even bigger. At least it did on this hamburger.

Not sure about the 162sst wound channel size but I heard they do excellent on elk.

Plus this guy who started the post probably already went elk hunting with the 160 accubonds and that is also a good round for elk.

I hunted with a 7mm Mag for many years and formed some of my own opinions about it. 1st, it was a great long range cartridge, I made some really great shots with it. I shot a 160 grain Nosler partition with a MV of 3150 (I had a fast barrel) The partition did a good job of terminal performance without destroying a lot of meat. The cartridge worked well for deer size game. I did manage to finish off a near record book black bear with that gun and that was when I really started to question the caliber for large animals. The killing shot on that bear was from around 150 yards, entered behind the shoulder. I recovered the bullet, it never touched the rib cage on the off side. Not adequate penetration for my liking. On another bear hunt, I shot a beautiful big bear across a canyon at around 500 yards. I watched as the bear bit at his shoulder after the shot and then watched him roll several hundred yards down a very steep hill. I looked and looked for that bear and never even found a drop of blood and never found the bear.

Now back to the elk hunt. I like accubonds, but they aren't quite as tough as I would like. The front portion of the bullet tends to explode on impact in the smaller calibers. I witnessed this on an antelope this year with 180 NAB's out of my 300 ultra at 400 yards, 8 inch hole in the hide on entrance, and I recovered the bullet on the off side. Very dead antelope, but I would have questioned this performance on an elk also. The same results happened with a 243 and an 85 grain interbond, bullet blew up on the entrance and only did surface damage.

Back to the elk question. The 7mm with the accubond will kill the elk, but I would shy away from a direct shoulder shot and instead place the shot behind the shoulder for maximum tissue damage. Elk shoulder blades are fairly tough and can compromise some bullets integrity, which is why if I was picking a bullet for elk out of a 7mm, it would be in the 175 to 180 grain range for maximum penentration.

Now, after shooting a 7mm for many years, what did I replace it with? A 338 and I can tell you that there is nothing like hitting a big animal with a big caliber and watching it get hit with Thor's sledge hammer.